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HfUAL KEPORT 



DIRECTORS 



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JUrmal Sc|ocl leprtmeni, 



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ANNUAL REPORT 



OF THE 



DIRECTORS 



OF THE 



Uflrmal Skjwl jieprtnutti, 



CONNECTED WITH THE 



GIRLS' HIGH SCHOOL OF THE FIRST DISTRICT, 



NEW ORLEANS. 



BATON KOUGE: 

J M TAYLOR, STATE PRINTER, 
1859. 






10 lv 

d. of & 



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RE P R T. 



Office of Superintendent of Public Schools, 
First District, New Orleans 



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Hon. W. I. Hamilton, State Superintendent of Public Education : 

Sir — In accordance with provisions of Section 3d of Act No. 84, entitled 
"An Act to establish a Normal School Department in the Public High Schools 
of the City of New Orleans," approved March 15, 1858, the Directors of 
the Normal School Department, established in connection with the Girls' 
High School of the First District, herewith present their annual report, 
" showing in detail the condition of the department under their charge, the 
number of pupils admitted and left, the time of continuance therein, the 
actual expense, and the money received for the support of the same." 

The Directors of the First District Schools cheerfully accepted the impor- 
tant trusts confided to them in the Act aforesaid, and took immediate steps 
to promote the liberal and enlightened design of the State Legislature. 

An " Executive Committee " was formed, consisting of the President of 
the Board, the Chairman of the standing committees on the two High 
Schools, on Teachers, and on Finance, and constituted with fall power and 
authority to establish a Normal School Department in one or both of the 
High Schools of the District, and to organize, direct and control the same, 
in conformity to the provisions of the Act aforesaid. 

This Executive Committee, charged with the organization and general ad- 
ministration of the Normal School of this District, presented a report to 
the School Board, June 10, 1858, from which the following extracts are 
taken : 

"In furtherance of the resolutions and the preliminary report adopted by 
the Board at its meeting of April 1, 1858, the Committee engaged the ser- 
vices of Mrs. A. L. Pagaud as Principal of the School, at a compensation 
of $500 per annum, payable quarterly, out of the funds to be effected to the 



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support of the school, in conformity to the 2d section of the Act of March 
15, 1858, authorizing its establishment. Earnestly seconding* the views of 
the Committee, this capable and experienced teacher assumed the post 
assigned her on Saturday, the 3d April, 9 J A. M., when, after an address 
by the Superintendent explanatory of the design, objects and prospects of 
the Institution, the School was organized, by the inscription of thirteen pupils 
on its register, who previously subscribed the " pledge " presented by the 
Committee, a copy whereof is hereto annexed. 

" The mental qualifications required of applicants for admission were, 
satisfactory acquaintance with the branches taught in the highest depart- 
ment of our District Schools, and, in the case of such candidates as came 
from any of the High Schools of the city, certificates of graduation, of cre- 
ditable position in such Schools. Sixteen was the minimum age allowed, 
and references as to character, deportment, etc., were also required. 

" The register or roll of the school now shows a list of thirty pupils, and 
it is highly gratifying to observe that several members of the class are from 
other Districts than the First. 

" For the first month, the sessions were held but twice a week, Wednes- 
days from 4 j to 6 J P. M., and Saturdays from 9 A. M. to 1 P. M. Recently 
the gratifying interest in their exercises manifested by a majority of the 
pupils has induced the Principal, with the sanction of the Committee and 
Superintendent, to hold three sessions per week : on Tuesdays and Thurs- 
days from 4| to 6| P. M., and Saturdays from 9 A. M. to 1 P. M. 

•'The branches in which the pupils are exercised and methodically trained 
are reading, grammatical and logical analysis, the principles of punctuation 
and original composition, geography and arithmetic. The reading exercise, 
however, involves not only a careful choice of subjects and a clear, distinct 
and intelligent enunciation by the reader, but also a critical appreciation 
of the author's style, and an explanation of his theme and elucidation of his 
references to persons, places and events; and the reader's own comments 
being then subject to the criticism and review of the whole school. It is 
obvious that the investigation thus excited, and the spirit of emulation thus 
awakened, must be attended with the happiest results. So with the gram- 
matical and logical analysis of 'Milton's Paradise Lost,' and with the exer- 
cises of the pupils in practical punctuation, similar criticism is equally 
instructive: and the methodical discussion of arithmetic and exemplification of 
the divers modes of solving problems in this art, intuitively train the mind 
to such elaborations of thought and facility of expression as should always 
characterize a professional teacher of youth. 

"The Committee have been pleased to observe, that the attendance of 
pupils has been regular and uniform — the roll showing a steady average of 
twenty-six scholars ; that their deportment has been cheerful and irreproach- 
able ; and that wdiile there are striking differences in their capacities, the 






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spirit of emulation among them reveals only a generous and mutually bene- 
ficial rivalry. 

" The Board will have observed that the branches of study pursued in the 
school are principally those taught in the highest department of our District 
Schools. The object of this, is not only to train a capable corps of teachers 
for these schools, but to perfect the pupil's comprehension of those branches 
which really underlie every system of education. As soon as practicable, 
the Committee propose to organize a Model Department, or School of Prac- 
tice, to test and develope the teaching faculties of pupils; and when the State 
Legislature, or City Council, shall have recognized the institution as a sine 
qua non in the system of Southern education, and provided ample means for 
its 'support and encouragement,' it may be made a worthy compeer of the 
Normal Schools of Philadelphia, New York and other cities enjoying the 
blessings of public education." 

Signed by R. M. LUSHER, 

For Executive Committee. 



The following is a copy of the " pledge " signed by pupils of the Normal 
School, pursuant to Section 1st : 

"We, the undersigned, being desirous of receiving instruction in the art 
and science of Teaching, do severally declare that it is our bona fide inten- 
tion to engage in the occupation of teaching within the State of Louisiana 
for at least two years after we shall severally have received diplomas as 
graduates of the Normal School Department of the Girls' Hio-h School of 
the First District of the City of New Orleans. 

" We, also, severally declare that it is our intention to remain in the Nor- 
mal School for at least four months from the date of our admission to said 
school . 

" In faith whereof we hereto subscribe our names at New Orleans, at the 
respective places affixed to our signatures, and in presence of the witnesses 
whose names are opposite to ours, subscribed to this pledge." 



At a regular meeting of our School Board, held July 1st, 185S, the Execu- 
tive Committee on the Normal School further reported upon its "success- 
ful operation": 

" The average attendance during the months of May and June has been 
twenty-seven pupils, and of the thirty-one originally enrolled on the Register, 
but one has withdrawn. 

"On the mental condition and discipline of the school, the Committee 




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have but little to add to their June report, the deportment of the pupils 
continuing* irreproachable and a corresponding advancement being percepti- 
ble in their appreciation of the benefits incident to their connection with 
such an institution. 

" The Directors, who were present at the closing exercises of the school ou 
yesterday, are doubtless satisfied that the characteristics of its infancy be- 
token a brilliant and vigorous maturity. Certain it is that the mental ante- 
cedents of a large proportion of .the pupils, and the vigorously inductive 
method pursued by their teacher, will, after ten months' development, rear a 
corps of correct reasoners, if not of practical teachers; and if the funds in- 
tended for the "support and encouragement " of the school can be so appor- 
tioned as to justify the organization, in October next, of a school of practice, 
or Teacher's Model Department, the Directors of this District will certainly 
be able a year hence to graduate a class of teachers competent to instruct 
the youth of Louisiana in all the essential branches of an English education.' , 

The summer vacation, protracted by an epidemic of unusual severity, 
delayed the reopening of the school, but has not affected its general pros- 
perity. When the exercises were resumed in October, twenty-four pupils 
were in attendance and three more were admitted. At subsequent sessions 
of the school five other qualified aspirants were admitted, making the roll 
for that month thirty-two pupils, almost all of whom have regularly attended 
the various exercises. 

The peculiar provisions of the law and the best interests of the school it- 
self seemed to require' a remodeling of the classification heretofore observed. 
Accordingly, two classes or courses were organized, designated respectively 
as the senior course and the junior course; the former organized for "gradu- 
ation," according to the apparent spirit of the law, at the close of January 
or February, 1859, and the latter for a similar privilege, at the close of 
May or June, 1859. All the worthy members of the school will then have 
been trained as theoretical teachers within twelve months from the date of 
their admission, and as many of them as possible have been exercised from 
time to time in such "schools of practice" as the primary departments in 
our district schools afford. 

In view of the successful progress of the school, manifested by the in- 
creasing number of applicants for admission, and the general interest taken 
in the exercises by the pupils attending, it was deemed proper and expedient 
to amplify the curriculum of studies by the introduction, in the senior course, 
of moral and intellectual philosophy, and in both courses, of elocution and 
penmanship, as special branches. The services of an experienced and able 
teacher were secured for these important studies, at the moderate salary of 
$100 per quarter. 

The foregoing details you will doubtless deem valuable, inasmuch as they 
are the progressive steps of the first attempt made to establish a Normal 
School in our own State, if not in any of the other Southern States. You 



"will perceive from them that the School Board of the First District has cheer-' 
fully sought to carry out the design of the State Legislature, in educating a 
corps 'of zealous and intelligent teachers, who shall individually seek to give 
a higher standard and a more marked degree of success to an honorable and 
useful profession. 

The Act by which the school is established is restrictive in its character, 
and fails to meet all that is required of a Normal School. The number of 
pupils upon which the appropriation is based, is limited to twenty ; conse- 
quently we have been unable to claim more than at the rate of one thousand 
dollars per annum, whereas, by clause in Section 4th, the limit of the sum 
appropriated is placed at three thousand dollars. The number of applicants 
has always, from the first organization of the school, exceeded the number 
of pupils allowed to each department. There are upon file forty-seven ap- 
plications for admission to the school. Of this number, forty-one have been 
enrolled in regular attendance, and but four have left. At the close of the 
session for quarter ending December 31st, 1858, there are thirty-seven pupils 
upon roll, of whom twenty are in the senior class and seventeen in the junior. 
As elsewhere shown, the sessions were at first semi-weekly ; they are now 
held on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Under 
a more liberal appropriation, the number of scholars and the influence of 
the institution would be greatly augmented. 

Enough has been done to prove that the establishment of an independent 
Normal School in this city would be eminently successful. The demand 
has long been felt here, as elsewhere in the South, for experienced, efficient 
and cultivated teachers, adapted to the climate, familiar with our institu- 
tions and attached to their respective places of employment, both by inte- 
rest and by pleasing associations. This want our Normal School proposes 
to supply, in a fair proportion to the means invested for its support and the 
general interest manifested in its success. Something has already been 
accomplished. The school, even in its infancy, respectable for numbers and 
for scholarship, is mainly composed of graduates of our own High Schools. 
Many of them are earnest and intelligent, and bring to their calling a 
rigorous discipline of the intellectual faculties, with a fair degree of literary 
accomplishments. The course of instruction to which they. are subjected in 
the Normal School has been carefully considered with reference to accurate 
scholarship in the fundamental branches of an English education, and to an 
aptitude to teach alike thoughtful, skilful and progressive. The School 
Board of the First District, earnestly co-operating with the State Legisla- 
ture in its enlightened design, has constituted the primary departments of the 
schools under' its charge as a "school of practice," and required the mem- 
bers of the senior course, who are called "normal aids," to visit these 
departments at stated periods, that, by observation and example, they may 
the better unite the "art" with the "science" of teaching. It has, more- 
over, authorized the employment of these " normal aids," during the tempo- 



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' rary absence of its regular, and expressed its intention of giving them a 
preference in any vacancy which may occur within their control. In this 
manner, and by such instrumentalities, we expect to meet the demand for 
good teachers here and elsewhere. 

With respect to the " actual expense and the money received for the 
support ; ' of the Normal School Department, it may be briefly stated as 
follows : 

Received on account of State Appropriation to September 30, 1858... $500 

By salary of Principal to June 30, 1858 $125 00 

to September 30, 1858 125 00 

" " to December 31, 1858 i 125 00 

li Assistant Teacher, two months 66 10 

Incidentals, (Porter, Stationery, Printing, etc.) 58 30 

$500 

As before remarked, under more favorable circumstances, the influence of 
the school would be materially increased. A teacher of vocal music is 
much. needed. It is also desirable to give the pupils the advantages of a 
course of lectures, by accomplished scholars, upon scientific and literary 
subjects. The funds at our disposal do not warrant these important 
improvements. May we hope for your co-operation in efforts to secure from 
. the State Legislature a more liberal appropriation for the ensuing year, that 

rthe first Normal School ever established in this State may be placed upon a 
firmer basis and beyond the possibility of failure ? You will thus contribute 
to promote a worthy enterprise, and advance the noble cause of public 
education. 

Respectfully submitted. 

WILLIAM O. ROGERS, 
Superintendent Public Schools, 1st District. 
W. B. LINDSAY, 
President of Public School Board, and Chairman of Normal School. 






LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



019 739 192 3 




